“The End We Start From” is a simple but compelling movie which follows a young woman’s struggle for survival and motherhood after one big national disaster. Mostly limiting itself around its heroine’s viewpoint, the movie often accentuates how things become more uncertain and desperate around her, and that is why we are touched by how she somehow comes to find the will and determination to start again for herself as well as her little child.

The movie opens with how everything is suddenly turned upside down for its heroine, who is simply named “Mother” in the end credits. She is going through the late stage of her pregnancy, so her baby may come out sooner or later, but the situation outside her cozy residence somewhere in London is getting quite troubling at present. For some unspecified reason, rain has kept pouring down upon the whole country during last several days, and the situation becomes all the more serious as her neighborhood is gradually flooded more and more.

We later see the heroine eventually delivering her baby at a local hospital, and she and her boyfriend are relived at least for now, but they still have to deal with the national emergency situation just like many others in the country. It looks like many parts of the country including London are seriously flooded, and thousands of resulting refugees including the heroine and her family must find any possible shelter to stay right now.

Luckily for them, they subsequently find the shelter in the boyfriend’s hometown, and they are welcomed by the boyfriend’s parents, but, not so surprisingly, things get worse during next several days. While it seems that the heroine and her family can be safe and fine at the house of the boyfriend’s parents, they soon need to get some food supply for their survival, and the heroine finds herself left along with her baby after the others go outside for getting any food for them and her.

Needless to say, the circumstance gets worse than the heroine expected. She and her baby eventually get separated from the boyfriend, and now she has to take care of herself and her baby alone by herself. She and her baby are a bit safer along with some other refugees, and she also gets some help and support from some other woman with a baby, but she is reminded again and again of how things continue to get worse as the whole nation is still struggling to deal with the aftermath of that unprecedented disaster.

Steadily following its heroine’s plight, the screenplay by Alice Birch, which is adapted from the novel of the same novel by Megan Hunter, does not give much detail on what is going on around its heroine, but it instead focuses more on how she tries to recover from her devastated condition. While becoming more aware of her maternal responsibility, her mind cannot help but go back to those good old days of hers as reflected by occasional brief flashback scenes, whose warm and sunny mood makes a striking atmospheric contrast with her daunting current status.

Later in the story, she comes to learn about the existence of a safer shelter which is incidentally a little isolated commune. For her baby’s safety and welfare, she is certainly willing to take some risk for going to that commune, but she also comes to have the growing doubt on whether she is making the right decision or not. Can she and her baby really make a new start over there? And, above all, can she possibly leave behind everything in her life just for that?

As the movie sticks to its non-judgmental attitude, we come to focus more on the solid lead performance by Jodie Comer, who has been more prominent during last several years thanks to her appearances in several notable films including “The Last Duel” (2021). Subtly imbuing her character with enough human details to be observed along the story, Comer ably carries the film to the end without any misstep, and we eventually care more about her character when she makes a big decision on her and her baby’s future during the last act of the story.

Around Comer, a number of recognizable performers come and then go while having each own moment to remember. As the heroine’s caring boyfriend, Joel Fry has several poignant scenes between him and Comer, and we understand why the heroine is often haunted by the memories of her boyfriend. Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, who incidentally serves as one of the executive producers of the film, Katherine Waterston are also solid in their small but crucial supporting parts, and Waterson brings some warm decency to her character as her character comes to bond more along with the heroine as they go through a series of difficult circumstances together.

On the whole, “The End We Start From” requires some patience from you for being a bit too dry and slow at first, but it still works as a competent survival drama supported well by its good mood, storytelling, and performance. Director Mahalia Belo, who previously made several short films and TV episodes, makes a commendable feature film debut here, and I appreciate the technical efforts from her and her crew members including cinematographer Suzie Lavelle, who did a nice job of filling the screen with a grim sense of uncertainty and devastation throughout the film. Although it does not surprise me much, the movie engaged me enough as doing its job as well as intended, so I recommend you to take a chance with it someday.